Thai beef salad recipe

This Thai beef salad shows that leftover roast beef isn’t just for sandwiches. This is the perfect salad for summer days – the Thai flavours take you straight to a beach lined with palm trees! Pre-cooked sachets of high-protein quinoa or filling rice make this substantial salad so quick and easy to make. This Thai beef salad is healthy as well as hearty, and makes a packed lunch that will put any boring sandwich or salad to shame. It’s so easy to make but gives such vibrant and flavourful results. Thai beef salad is the perfect example of how you can take the leftover meat from a classic British roast, and infuse it with all the flavours and aromas of the East to give it a whole new lease of life. Our recipe serves two, but you could easily double the quantity depending on how much meat you have.

Ingredients

For the dressing

• Juice and zest of 2 limes
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1tbsp palm sugar (or caster)
• 2tbsp fish sauce
• 2tbsp soy sauce
• 3tbsp sesame oil

2tsp grated ginger

For the salad

• 200g packed cooked quinoa or rice
• 1 cucumber, halved, seeds scraped out, and sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 200g leftover rare beef, finely sliced
• 1 bunch fresh mint, roughly chopped
• 50g chopped peanuts, to top

Method

1. To make the dressing: mix together the ingredients with 3tbsp water and leave to infuse. Meanwhile, prepare the quinoa or rice according to packet instructions.
2. Toss together the cucumber, spring onions, quinoa or rice, sliced beef and chopped mint, and then stir in the dressing. Scatter over some chopped peanuts and serve.